French Cruiser,

Reference: Griffith 8. In very good condition, printed in black ink on cream wove paper with a flower watermark, the full sheet with deckle edges, 6 x 11, the sheet 11 1/8 x 18 inches.

A fine impression of this rare print.

Hassam was of the course the pre-eminent American Impressionist, and French Cruiser is a superb example of his use of impressionism in printmaking. In his lithotints he applied ink with the same fluidity as with his watercolors. The detailed line-work of the etchings is replaced with masses of black or grey on white, spatial recession is denied, and the images are vertically layered on the picture plane; this is all about the play of shadows and light.